Getting started with phonics – free resources

• What is phonics?
• How can I get started with phonics?
• What should I do first?

Phonics teaches children the sounds of letters and groups of letters and how to blend them together to make words.

Start with the most common sound of each letter. Choose a few common letters to start with, then add more as your child becomes confident with these.

Each time your child learns a new letter, add it to their collection and make up words using the letters.

E.g. with a, t, c, h, s, b, m, f, r, n, d:

• • at, cat, act, hat, sat, bat, tab, cab,
  • am, ham, Sam, bam, mat, fat, rat, cam, ram,
  • ran, ant, tan, can, ban, man, fan, nan, tan, tab, nab,
  • cad, dam, had, sad, bad, mad, fad, dad, and …
  • (but NOT tar, art … as, has). Nonsense words are also useful.

When children can manage three-letter words easily, you could try adding        cats, hats … hand, band, sand … stand …

Remember to say /mmmm/ and /nnnn/, not “muh” and “nuh” to help children run the letters together smoothly. This also applies to “s” (/ssss/), “f” (/ffff/), “l” (/llll/), “r” (/rrrr/), “v” (/vvvv/) and “z” (/zzzz/). You can also speak the vowels slowly, e.g. “a” in “man” – /mmmm/ /aaaa/ /nnnn/. This is very helpful, and sometimes essential, for children who are having difficulty identifying the sounds within words.

Leave the following sounds involving “a” until after children are very confident with the most common sound of all of the single letters: “a_e” (cake, wave), “ai” (wait), “ay” (play), “ar” (car, cart, part … warm), “al” (walk, half), “a” in ask, grass (in countries where “a” can  sound like /ar/), “wa” (want, was).

Initially teach “c” as /k/ (cat, cot, cut), not /s/ (city, cent, icy) or the name of the letter. Teach “g” as /g/ (gate, goat), not /j/ (gentle, giant, gypsy) or the name of the letter.

Only teach letter names much later because it is easier for children, when they are learning to read, if they automatically think of the sounds of letters.

Below is a link to a set of cards to print with the letters and memory aids to help you get started. The memory aids go with the rhymes in the alphabet sounds book available free at successwithreading.com (top right hand corner of every page) if you don’t already have it. These rhymes should explain anything that might not be clear just with the pictures on the memory aid cards.

You can also play snap or other matching games with these cards. You can match picture cards with letter cards, picture with picture, or letter with letter cards, but children may only keep the cards if they can say the (most common) sound of the letter.

Click here for the cards to print: Memory Cards